Liber Terrae - Chapter 30

Verses

Verse 25

From orbit I searched for my country and found weather.

Verse 26

I searched for the border and found a river ignoring it.

Verse 27

I searched for the capital and found a patch of light too small to name.

Verse 28

Distance does not make humanity wise. It only removes some of the labels.

Verse 29

The oceans looked calm because I was too far away to see anyone drowning.

Verse 30

The deserts looked empty because I was too far away to see anyone walking.

Verse 31

Beauty from orbit is partly an optical failure of compassion.

Verse 32

Still, I pressed my face to the glass like a child.

Verse 33

Earth was not majestic because it was large. Jupiter had cured me of that measure.

Verse 34

It was majestic because every grave I knew was on it.

Verse 35

Every kitchen smell, every bad song from a neighbor’s window, every hospital corridor, every cat sleeping on a car hood—there.

Verse 36

Space contains more room than anyone could want and almost nowhere to put a chair.

Verse 37

When reentry fire covered the window, I understood home as the place capable of killing you in familiar ways.

Verse 38

I kissed the ground after landing, then laughed because the ground had never noticed I left.